Poetic Justice
by Didine34790
Summary: A What if story based on the season 6 finale. No Lexie, Mark or Derek dying in the later seasons.


**Title:** Poetic Justice

 **Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the characters I create. Everything else belongs to Shonda.

 **Summary:** A What if story based on the season 6 finale.

 **Rating:** T

 **Spoilers:** Up to the 6th season finale.

 **AN:** Wrote this after the season 8 finale, when I was mourning Lexie, this is what came of it. Mostly Meredith's POV, the rest is 3rd person.

.oO° °Oo. .oO° °Oo. .oO° °Oo.

 _For most people, a hospital is a scary place. A hostile place. A place where bad things happen. Most people would prefer church, or school, or home. But I... grew up here. While my mom was on rounds, I learned to read in the O.R. gallery. I played in the morgue. I colored with crayons on old E.R. charts. The hospital was my church... my school... my home. The hospital was my safe place... My sanctuary. I love it here. Correction: loved it here._

I was happy, my life was on the right track, everything was going well. I thought I was safe. It never once crossed my mind that I could get shot in a hospital, and yet standing in front of Gary Clark everything changed in a nanosecond.

 _5 Minutes Earlier_

Cristina and I were chatting about my priorities in life when Derek met us with a somewhat crazy look on his face.

\- "We're on lockdown." He said.

\- "Yes, we know, we're not walking outside." Cristina responded.

\- "That's not what lockdown means, it means stay where you are." He replied.

Cristina turned to me.

\- "Did you know that?" She asked me.

\- "No, I thought it meant …

\- Get in here." Derek cut me, pushing us in an empty closet.

\- "Wait, why are we…" Cristina started to protest.

\- "There's a shooter loose in the hospital, stay here, don't move. I'll come and get you when it's clear." He ordered before closing the door and leaving us confused.

Less than a minute later, Cristina spotted a man outside. A man she supposed to be the shooter.

\- "That's the guy from the elevator

\- "What do you mean? What?" I asked, even more confused than before.

\- "It's the guy from the elevator," she repeated, "he asked me for direction to get to the chief's office.

\- I don't … I don't under…" I tried to speak before she cut in.

\- "Meredith, the guy with the gun is looking for Derek."

The words registered in my brain, and I retched into a bassinet. I started to panic, I was just told by my best friend that the guy shooting people was looking for my husband. I tried to get out of the closet but Cristina wouldn't let me.

\- "I'm going Cristina, I'm going! Please!" I pleaded with her.

\- "No, you are not. You'll get killed and I'm not gonna let that happen. You wanna go, you gotta go through me." She said forcefully.

I heard her words, but I couldn't let myself understand them, I shoved her aside and ran out the door to Derek's office. I ran as fast as I could and I could hear Cristina running after me.

I was almost there when I heard Clark shout.

\- "Shut up! You're not the man! I'm the man! I'm the man!" I ran faster, and I finally reached them. He saw me coming, he turned his head toward me. "Who are you?"

\- "I'm-I'm-." I stuttered.

\- "Mr. Clark, please, don't do this!" I heard Derek plead.

Everything suddenly made sense, I knew why he was here, looking for Derek. I knew what I had to do.

\- "Meredith Grey, I'm Meredith Grey." I wasn't paralyzed by fear anymore. "I know who you are, Derek told me about you. You want revenge, right? Your wife died. Lexie Grey pulled the plug, she's my sister. Dr Webber was your wife's doctor, I'm the closest thing he has to a daughter and the man standing in front of you, I'm his wife." As I was saying those words, I could see Derek's face changing from shock to fear to panic to horror, and I felt tears coming down my cheeks. But I kept talking. "If you want to hurt them the way that you hurt, shoot me, you don't have to hurt anyone else. I'm your eye for an eye." I hoped he wouldn't shoot. I didn't think anything through. He turned the gun towards me, I looked over at Derek. "I love you, Derek. I'm sorry."

He was ready to shoot. I saw him raise his gun and I realized the implications of my actions. In those three and a half seconds I prayed for some kind of miracle as fear slowly crept up my spine and paralyzed me.

\- "Please don't do this." I heard Derek plead again. "Mr. Clark, please!

\- Shut up! You don't get to be God and decide who lives and dies.

\- Mr. Clark, listen to me. I lost my father when I was a kid. I know your loss. I didn't become a doctor to play God, I became a doctor because I wanted to save lives. Look at me." He implored. "Please, look at me in the eyes." Gary Clark turned his head toward Derek. "I'm a human being, I make mistakes, I'm flawed, we all are." I was petrified, but he lowered his gun to the ground and I let out a breath of relief.

\- "Oh, Dr Shepherd. Thank God you're back!" April came through the doors opposite to me, and in half a second Gary Clark had made his decision. My eyes met his dead eyes and I stared down at the barrel of his gun.

I heard the bang at the same time I felt the bullet rip through my flesh. I'd never felt this much pain in my life before. I caught a last glance to Derek before the world around me faded to black and I felt myself hit the ground.

.oO° °Oo. .oO° °Oo. .oO° °Oo.

Derek crumpled to the floor as he watched Meredith fall to the ground. Clark stepped near Meredith and pointed his gun at her a second time.

At that exact moment, Cristina appeared.

\- "Don't! Please, she's pregnant! You wouldn't shoot a woman who's pregnant!"

Clark turned his towards the person who had spoken.

\- "It's too late, I don't care anymore." He whispered and before he walked away, he shot Meredith a second time leaving Cristina in shock.

After Clark left, April was the first one to react, she was by Meredith's side in an instant, checking if there was a pulse, applying pressure to her wounds, assessing her condition.

\- "She's still alive! I have a pulse! She needs surgery!" She turned to see if they were doing anything, but they weren't, Derek was still on the floor not moving, and Cristina was frozen in place. "She needs surgery, you need to call for help now!"

Derek heard her and snapped out of his fog. He called and called the emergency unit but no one was coming. Cristina had come out of her state of shock and was by Meredith's head whispering to her.

\- "You need to fight, it can't end like this! You saved me, Mer, do you hear me, you saved me! I was barely feeling anything before I met you, you made me want more, it can't end like this! Come on, wake up! I need you to be ok!

Derek approached them, freak out and terrified.

\- "No one's coming," he muttered.

\- "She needs a heart surgeon and a general surgeon, or at least a trauma surgeon. She's never going to make it if they don't operate! We need to get her to an OR!" April stated, trying to sound calm when she was absolutely freaking out inside.

.oO° °Oo. .oO° °Oo. .oO° °Oo.

Lexie was trying to move the supply cart as silently as she could. She turned her head to check that no one was coming from behind and when she looked front again, she was surprised by Clark standing there, right in front of her. All the dots connected in her head when she saw the gun in his hand.

\- "Oh, Mr Clark." She sighed. Her eyes conveying the pain she felt through empathy.

\- "I didn't plan on shooting all those people.

\- Of course you didn't, you were sad, you-you were grieving.

\- I only planned to shoot Dr Shepard, and Dr Webber, and you." He added looking her straight in the eyes. "But instead, I found another way to have my revenge. I killed Meredith Grey! I killed your sister, and you're responsible."

Lexie's eyes shot wide open and she gasped. She had no way of knowing if he was telling the truth. Then she heard a shot, and she dropped to the ground. Across the room she saw a cop holding a smoking gun. He signaled her to go, so she did, still in shock.

She ran back to Mark and Alex, not turning back once.

.oO° °Oo. .oO° °Oo. .oO° °Oo.

They had managed to transport Meredith's unconscious body to the OR 2. Derek stayed by her side while Cristina and April went to look for equipment and a surgeon. They found Jackson in OR 1 with an entire surgical team, which moved to OR 2.

They moved room by room, not finding anyone inside. They had reached the end of the wing when they caught a glimpse of Bailey coming down the stairs with Percy. They gestured for them to come over, and Percy saw them, he motioned to Bailey what he saw and they came, as silently as they could. Cristina pulled them all into a room.

\- "Doctor Bailey, we need you, he shot Meredith." she tried to whisper, but she couldn't hold it, and started to get hysterical, so April took over.

\- "He shot her twice, once in the chest, once in the abdomen, she's in OR 2 with Dr Shepherd being prepped for surgery."

While Bailey recovered from the news and tried to comfort Cristina, Percy enquired about Meredith's state.

\- "It doesn't really look good," April lowered her voice, "her pulse is weak, and she's barely breathing, and Cristina could operate on her if it wasn't Meredith, that's what Jackson tried to tell her." She was about to break down, she forced herself to remain calm. She lost her best friend today, but it didn't mean that she was going to let that happen to Cristina. If they didn't find a heart surgeon, which she doubted they would, Cristina would have to be the one to save her friend.

.oO° °Oo. .oO° °Oo. .oO° °Oo.

Inside the room, Lexie was pacing.

\- "He killed my sister! He said he killed my sister! And it's my fault! He wanted to get revenge on me!

\- Wait, you're going too fast!" Mark interrupted the rambling. "You don't know that any of what he said is true.

TBC

.oO° °Oo. .oO° °Oo. .oO° °Oo.

Please, let me know what you think!


End file.
